August 26, 2004

Judge Stops Partial-Birth Abortion Ban

A federal judge declared the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional Thursday in the second such ruling in three months - even though he called the procedure "gruesome, brutal, barbaric and uncivilized."
[...]
The law, signed last November, banned a procedure known to doctors as intact dilation and extraction and called partial-birth abortion by abortion foes. The fetus is partially removed from the womb, and the skull is punctured or crushed.
[While the virtually fully-developed baby is still alive.--Jen]

Louise Melling, director of the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, said her group was thrilled by the ruling.
[How revolting!
"Thrilled" about baby murder?
Why don't they just call Scott Peterson to do the job?--J.T.]
[...]
The three verdicts are almost certain to be appealed to the Supreme Court.
[Fine!
As Hanoi John would say, "Bring it on!"]

The ban, which President Clinton twice vetoed, was seen by abortion rights activists as a fundamental departure from the Supreme Court's 1973 precedent in Roe v. Wade. But the Bush administration has argued that the procedure is cruel and unnecessary and causes pain to the fetus.
[...]
Casey, who was appointed to the bench by President Clinton in 1997, was considered by some observers to be the best legal hope for the law's supporters.
[IOW, did the ACLU set up this case just so the ban could be struck down???
That would SO unlike them...NOT.]

"We were on pins and needles on this one," said Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
[Ah, yes. The folks who brought us the "I had an abortion" T-shirt at the Dim Convention.]
"The judge was very aggressive in his questioning and very transparent in his articulation of his personal views on the matter. Fortunately, he chose to uphold the law."
[Wrong. The ban was the law.]

During a hearing earlier this year, Casey repeatedly asked doctors whether they tell pregnant women prior before an abortion that they will rip the fetus apart and that it might feel pain.
[...and that they were killing a real, live, functioning baby!]

"Did you tell them you were sucking the brains out of the same baby they desired to hold?" the judge asked Dr. Carolyn Westhoff, who performs or supervises hundreds of abortions a year in Manhattan.

Lord, have mercy!
I can't argue with His Holiness the Pope when he says that America has a "culture of death" when we allow, and some such as these ACLU and Planned Parenthood representatives even promote and advocate, practices like this!
Remember that our vote on Nov. 2 is about the appointment of judges who are strict constructions and who don't legislate their Liberal agenda from the bench like Casey and it's also about values, those who value human life--that would be the GOP--and those who breezily choose to end it--that would be the Dimocrats, who have made "belief" in abortion-on-demand an article of faith.
John Kerry, a Catholic, has come very close to being either banned from communion or even excommunicated due to his unrepentant advocacy of abortion in the U.S. Senate.
Vote Republican to speak for the babies, who can't speak yet and save their own lives, if for no other reason!